Thanks to Dale, I found this article. Now I want to re-read Paul Celan.

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This is Day Two of speaking to O in Spanish as part of my effort to rear a bilingual child. Here’s a sample conversation.

O: I want the towel on my lap.
Me: ?Quieres la toalla?
O: (patronizing look at me) It’s a towel, mommy.

Hmmm….we’ll see how this goes.

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When I read a poem in translation, I want finality. When I see a poem translated different ways, I wonder which way is closer to what the author meant to say. When I read in a language I don’t know, what am I missing in terms of words and the culture behind the words?

That’s the most difficult part of learning a language. I can learn languages fairly easily, yet I have a hard time with the culture behind the actual words. What am I saying when I refuse a second helping of food? Am I insulting anyone by saying no thanks?

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DH accidentally returned the Francine Prose book on writing that I was reading. I can’t recall the title, but she writes about books she’s read. I was looking forward to it.

I could not find the Francine Prose book in the library, so I came home with Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.